During our recent visit to Anglesey we had a break from walking or sea fishing and took a rail journey, by steam, from Caernarfon to Porthmadoc on the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway.

The scenery was magnificent as the train wound its way through the mountain of Snowdonia, made more so by the fact that we’d upgraded our seats to first class (it’s unlikely we’ll do it again for some time so we splashed out) so we were in the observation carriage at the end of the train which had a huge curved glass window at the rear, giving great views of the mountains and hills of North Wales as we sped (or trundled) past.

The carriage was amazing, with beautiful woodwork and individual small armchairs and although the snacks and drinks were basic they were of good quality and the service was great, especially considering that most of the ‘staff’ were volunteers.

At the other end we had a fish and chip lunch at the award winning Spooner’s Café & Bar – in Harbour Station then spent a few hours exploring Porthmadog harbour and Borth-y-Gest before reversing the journey.

Our return train was pulled by a different engine and we travelled in a ‘Pullman’ coach which was exceptionally comfortable – made more so by the fine bottle of Madog’s Ale, brewed in Porthmadog, I consumed along the way.

If the weather forcaste looks good, and you’ve nothing planned, I thoroughly recommend it.

The book, “Fishing Boats & Ports of Wales, A Way to Explore” by Stewart Lenton is about 180 pages in total, including the index and spiral bound which for an exploration type of book is a great idea as it means you can leave it open on the relevant page.

The introduction by Liz Lenton is a fascinating read and goes into a bit of history as well as guiding us gently round the coast from South to North. It shows that Liz really does enjoy these explorations and is written in a way that makes them accessible to us all.

The real ‘meat’ of the book is the Ports section. Every major (and a lot of minor) port is listed with a great introduction into the ports history, uses throughout it’s life and current condition as well as a few pictures of the port and surrounding area. This is then followed by a listing of the vessels registered at that Port including such details as registration number, name, type (eg, angler, liner, etc.), size and build year.

These details are actually quiet interesting in a geeky kind of way and I found myself looking through them even though I only had a passing interest but the main bit that caught my eye were the boats photos – I spent ages just going through Ports I’d visited looking at the pictures of boats thinking “I’ve seen that” or “I wonder if there’s a picture of…”

So overall, although it’s not a book I would normally buy I found it interesting and once I’d started hunting through areas I knew, it dragged me in. Is it worth £17.99 ? If you have any interest in boats or ports of Wales I’d say yes. Even if you just amble round the coast it would come in handy for those “I wonder what the boat is…” moments.

The Fishing Boats & Ports of Wales – A Way to Explore by Stewart Lenton  is published by Channel View Publishing, Plymouth, ISBN: 978-0-9554023-4-0 and is priced at £17.99. You can purchase it (and other books by Stewart and Liz) from the Chanel View Publishing website.

Exploring the area? Click here for places to stay in Wales

A Small but pretty Black Bream from South Beach, Pwllheli

After a few days of chilling out, walking and catching up on some reading in the sun we ventured of Anglesey, over the other side of the Llyn Peninsula to have a go, once again, at Pwllheli south Beach, target: Black Bream.

My first (small) Black Bream

After a long, long wait, and trying far out, close in, big baits and small baits I finally managed to capture this beautiful little fish on a size 4 hook using ragworm with a strip of squid as bait.

Looking at the size of this little fellow it was evident that size 4 hooks had been too big and we’d have been better scaling down to size 6 or even 8. We tried this but the tide was starting to ebb so we called it a day after a few hours. Only one fish but one I’ve been trying to catch for years.

So now that I’ve caught this years target species, all be it a very tiny specimen, it’s time to thing of a new challenge – probably Small Eyed Ray in September / October.

The only thing that put a dampener on the day was that even on such a huge beach with hardly any one on it, people still let their dogs crap and kids swim unatteneded right in front of us – maybe we’re famous or something but I doubt it – it’s more likely that people are just ignorant.

Everything is packed;

* fishing gear – check
* walking gear – check
* birdwatching gear – check
* photography gear – and check

At this rate I’m going to have to buy a bigger car.

If all goes to plan (which I doubt) the weather will stay as it is and produce a slight surf to bring the Bass in but be gentle enough to flatten the sea on the western side of the Island to give us a chance for some Thornback Rays.

And while we’re on the subject of Bass… what is it with people calling them “Sea Bass”, is there some type of land or air Bass that I’m not aware of? It’s a Bass! All the other varieties are called a ‘something’ Bass, the European one is called a Bass or if you want to be pedantic it’s full name is European Bass or Dicentrarchus labrax, also known as Morone labrax.

I guess it’s to avoid confusion with some of the American varieties such as Large Mouth Bass which live in fresh water. Sorry – it’s just a pet hate of mine that things get renamed for no apparent reason, or at least non that I can see (don’t even get me started on Marathon vs. Snickers)

Hopefully the next entry will be full of images of huge fish or if not, at least some good scenery.

Llandudno, North Wales

So what else did we do last year? Not a lot of sea fishing or fel walking that’s for sure. We did manage to suprise my father though which is a task in itself. For the past few years he has been entering the Three Castles Welsh Classic Trial with a friend, Bill. He works as the navigator and Bill, the proud owner of the car – a beautiful bright red Triumph TR5, is the driver.

This year (2008) we arranged to go down to Llandudno but we took company. Every year Dad and Bill go for 4 days leaving my mother and their dog, Megan – a black lab, behind. So – we picked up mum and Megan and took them to see the finish of the rally.

Three Castle Rally, TR5

Did we suprise my father?

I think we can safely say yes – it’s not often we can ‘get’ him, although how we’re going to top this one i’ll never know.

Once again the weather was stunning and after a good chat and a look at the cars we meandered our way back along the promenade only for me to spot a few guys fishing for Mackerel from the shore. It looked like they were doing fairly well and every so often a flash of silver and blue / green could be seen as their prizes were beached.

If there is anything quiet as frustrating a watching fish being caught when your tackle is almost 100 miles away I’ve yet to discover it. We left them too it, another great day in Llandudno and managing to suprise my father – priceless.

Looking Across the Inland Sea Towards Holyhead

The weather forecast was great with occasional showers and a light wind blowing onto the beaches we intended to fish as we arrived for our final sea fishing trip to Anglesey this year. We were staying at Ty Cristion again and after unloading the car and settling in I made a quick phone call to Gareth of fishing4u.co.uk and we set off for a secret mark well known to the local lads for big Bass.

Unfortunately it must have been so secret the Bass failed to find us but we did manage to catch a couple of Silver Eels each – not the target species but at least we caught, and we were treated to a magnificent sunset looking towards Holyhead.

Cymyran Bay - A Fine Surf

Saturday – today was the day to get serious. The wind was blowing onto Cymyran Bay beach, behind RAF Valley and we arrived to see a perfect surf.

We both cast out some lugworm baits about 60-80 meters into the waves and the wait began. And we waited and then waited some more. We changed baits constantly and tried a few Ammo frozen Sandeels but the only thing making the rods move was the wind and the surf.

It was one of those situations where you know there must be fish there but a surf beach is a huge area for any fish to find your bait amongst all the other tasty morsels washed out of the sand.

Cymyran - A Fine Place to Live

Today the Bass just weren’t playing. It did give me a good excuse to take a couple of photos of the house right on the edge of beach. What a fantastic place to live!

After about an hour of no action Wendy suggested we move a little nearer to the house and fish into the bay formed on the bend of the river between Holy Island and Anglesey.

Small Eyed Ray from Cymyran

I’d seen a report on one of the fishing forums of a large ray being caught here the previous weekend although I wasn’t sure exactly where on the beach so a quick change of tactic followed.

To say this proved to be a good move would be a huge understatement. We were only casting our frozen Sandeels about 60 meters into the calmer water when after about 1/2 an hour Wendy started reeling in.

She went quiet – a sign something was up! Then the rod arched over as she brought to shore her first ever ray. It was a male Small Eyed Ray and went to the scales at 5lb 8oz. She then proceeded to repeat the feat with two more at 5lb 2oz (female) and a huge female fish of 8lb 10oz.

I was starting to get rather alarmed by now. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy for Wendy as all of our fishing is a team effort but now I wanted a fish, any fish.

And then it happened. The rod gave a little twitch, then another and then arced over as if it was never going to stop. I struck into the fish and knew instantly it was a big one.

And a Small Eyed Ray For Me

Rays don’t generally fight much but they are hard work to pull through a rolling surf. As soon as it sensed the shore it started to fight back but I wasn’t letting this go even if I had to jump into the sea after it.

Wendy helped me beach another beautiful female Small Eyed Ray which weighed in at an amazing 9lb 7oz.

We stayed for another half an hour but left as darkness fell. What a day!

The following day we intended to do a bit of rock fishing but the forecast was for rain so like madmen we went back to Cymyran.

The surf was a little higher and it rained almost constantly for 3 hours but this didn’t seem to deter the fish although it did test our waterproofs to (and past) the limit.

The tally for Sunday was; Me – 2 Smalled Eyed Rays (at 4lb 8oz and 6lb 10oz) and a couple of small flounder, Wendy – 1 Small Eyed Ray at 5lb 2oz and a small Plaice.

Another fantastic day – who says anglers are mad?

South Stack, Anglesey

Monday came far too quickly, it’s amazing just how quickly you can relax on Anglesey and we didn’t want to go home so we went up to South Stack.

We ended up staying there for a couple of hours; reading, watching the sea, having a stroll then having lunch.

A perfect way to end an amazing weekends sea fishing where Wendy caught her first ever Ray after 2 years of trying then proceeded to catch 3 more, and I caught my biggest ever (by a long way) shore caught fish. Anglesey – what an fantastic place.

Small Bass for Wendy

After the long hot and wind free July we were looking forward to some lazy days fishing from the rocks on Anglesey. Alas the weather gods had a different plan for us and after lazing around in the sun on, of all things, Sunday (what else…) we woke on Monday to rain and a strong Westerly wind which dented our plans a little so we did a bit of walking instead.

After a while, I’m not sure which day we meandered over to our favorite spot of the year, a mark called ‘flagpole’ near Beaumaris where we found shelter as the wind was blowing over our heads.

The bait we took was frozen sandeel but no bites were forthcoming so i had a rummage around the rocks and found 2 crabs and, almost exactly the same as in may, Wendy managed to land her first proper Bass, only a small school fish but as you can see she was very, very pleased. I didn’t get a bite but this fish more than made up for it.

Ballan Wrasse

Our next attempt at a few fish was Ravens Point on the west side of Holy Island. Here the water is very deep and although the weather didn’t look to promising, with quite a swell on the sea I tried a bit of bottom fishing for rays or even dogfish while Wendy as per usual got the first fish, a sizable Ballan Wrasse on a small hard crab.

She then proceeded to catch a mackerel and it was looking little desperate for me so in desperation a got out the feathers and had a bash until I got one as well. At this point the rain came down and it started to become a bit precarious on the rocks so as the heavens opened we made a scramble up the rocks, back to the car.

It was beginning to look more and more like I wasn’t going to catch anything of quantity or quality as the holiday progressed and to make matters worse the wind picked up even though the rain stayed away.

In our quest to find calmer waters we ended up doing an afternoon / early evening session at Llanbadrig on the rocks to the north side of Anglesey. The scenery here is stunning and the church itself is well worth a visit as it tells the story of St. Patrick being wrecked on ‘Middle mouse’ and later founding the church.

It was a good job the views were good because the fishing itself was grim although I did manage to break my duck with a couple of dogfish.

Pollack for Wendy

As the sun dropped and it looked like packing up time Wendy had a last ‘chuck’ with a Storm rubber sandeel and even though I’d done exactly the same, in the same spot only half an hour earlier, managed to snag this lively little pollock.

You can see by the look on her face that she was a little bit chuffed. As the sun set we made our way back up to the church where we watched some other people fish on the rocks below for a while (thankfully they weren’t catching either so I didn’t feel to bad!) before heading back to the cottage.

A new day dawned, still a bit breezy but sunny so we planned another session to the flagpole as we’d managed to acquire a score of peeler crabs. Bass lookout – here we come!

The weather was perfect for this venue and again, what little wind there was was over our backs so it felt calm and hot. We tried everything but even though we were getting bites we just couldn’t hook into anything until I managed to hook this little fellow – finally – a Bass – although not the size we wanted so back he went.

Small Bass for me

We watched the boats drift by, also fishing for Bass I think and continued to miss bites all afternoon but the bigger fish just weren’t there and the only fish we saw was the small one in the photo to the left. I think the reason we kept missing the fish was due to the fact we were after the big ones with size 3/0 hooks and the only fish there were to small to get their mouths around the bait properly. Unlike our May visit where the mouth of the 2lb+ fish could have swallowed a tennis ball.

Throughout the holiday we also fished a mark called ‘Whitebeach’, park where it says Fedw Fawr an walk east (right on the map) over the field and down to an old quarry, where the swell made fishing almost impossible but once again Wendy caught a Mackerel and I blanked. We did see a couple of Porpoises chasing some fish though – only about 100 feet or so out so that more than made up for the lack of fish.

We even tried Llandona beach, fishing the high tide into darkness with freshly dug lugworms from Sandy beach (the best lug digging beach on the island) but after an hour of fighting with the weed on the line we gave up.

So overall the fishing wasn’t very good and we’ve put it down to a couple of things; the massive change in the weather for the beginning of August and our increased knowledge of the area. This may sound odd but where as when we first started fishing any fish would do, we now tend to target specific areas for specific species of fish and this method inevitably leads to either good days or bad days – unfortunately we had more of the bad than good but did we enjoy ourselves, you bet we did. Will we do it again – oh yes!

South Stack

Well we’ve got back from our two week jaunt to Anglesey and I’m splitting this blog into two bits, walking and fishing.

The weather was ‘interesting’ during the first week with west featuring predominantly in the wind direction which made fishing difficult so rather than stay inside on these blustery days we went out and explored the wonderful coastline that surrounds anglesey.

The first photograph is of the cliffs around the South Stack area where we had a quick look at the RSPB station. There’s quite a lot of information on South Stack on the BBC Wales website here.

We didn’t see many birds on the cliffs although there were a few Kittiwakes with chicks still in residence and on the way back to the car a Chough flew up the cliff face towards us as we were having a drink – I’ve only ever seen them in the distance before so this was a fantastic site.

Moel-y-don

As the weather didn’t seem to be getting any better we called into ABC tackle at Beaumaris to ask Malcolm about fishing the straits. He suggested giving an area around Moel-y-don a go so on the way back to the cottage we went for a quick walk along the Menai Straits, North to the start of the Nation trust Land at Plas Newydd.

You get a strange sensation standing on the shores of anglesey looking back towards the North Wales mainland, it’s as if you’re not on an island at all and only a river separates these two pieces of land, thats is until you see a shoal of Mackerel go past…

Porth Eilian

As the weather brightened up during the second week we did more fishing until just before coming back home. On the Friday we were ‘fished out’ so went for a walk around Point Lynas which is the North East corner and offers fantastic views in almost every direction.

We were hoping to see some Porpoises but the sea was to choppy to spot anything on the surface. We did manage to spot a flock of Gannets in the distance plunging into the sea, diving into what we assume was a large shoal of Mackerel – unfortunately they were too far away to get any photo’s.

Puppies

Yesterday I took this photo of the Spaniel puppies that had just started to open their eyes, the owner of the cottage where we stayed is a gamekeeper and it was wonderful watching these little chaps take their first steps.

And then it was time to come home. Once again another fantastic visit to this magical island which thankfully is still almost unspoiled by modern tourism.

The BBC had this to say last monday so it appears that the scale of the slick was not as great as it first appeared and according to the local coastguard and the environment agency the environmental impact on the area should be minimal.

Lets hope the slick disperses quickly, leaving this beautiful area untouched by the pollution of modern living!

Flint, Setting Up

Well since the last post we’ve been fishing at Cleveleys, Blackpool but as the weather was so bad and the fishing even worse the camera stayed in its case. I know this will seem odd but I don’t think I’ve ever been so wet while fishing – things are still drying out today – 2 days later. And just to make matters worse the amount of weed getting caught on the line was unbelievable. At one point there was so much it pulled my rod and tripod into the sea and filled my reel with sand, it is currently drying on the coffee table in bits.

This first picture was taken a couple of weekends ago during at match at Flint, North Wales, where the Flounder should have showed but the huge amount of fresh water coming down the River Dee meant that they mostly stayed out to sea – at least for me and Wendy.

Airbus A380 Wing on the River Dee

We did get to see this trundle past though, a very large barge / transporter carrying a wing for an airbus A380. Not something you see every day. It went down the river and turned right at the mouth, we think it probably ended up at Liverpool dock to be moved onto a larger ship to be transported to France and assembled but we could be wrong.

So overall the fishing hasn’t been great and after a good start to the season myself and Wendy have blanked the past two matches, oh well, there’s also the next time…

And just in case you were wondering about the walking aspect of this blog, the weather hasn’t really been to clever recently up here in the North West but here is a photo showing why we go out when the weather gives us the chance.

Looking out to the Three Peaks

This was taken about 3 weeks ago when the snow came down and shows Wendy looking out towards Pen-Y-Ghent, one of Yorkshire’s ‘three peaks’ from the journey up to the top of Fairsnape in Bowland, Lancashire. The views were stunning and it was good to be out when almost everyone else was in, if you know what I mean. My father is a ranger in this area which has many good walks and a great visitor center at Beacon Fell Country Park